Shoe



Nov. 15, 1932. WALSH 1,8875725 SHOE Filed July '11, 1929 INVENTOR George FWeflsh B 0 ATTO, NEYS Patented Nov. 15, 1932 GEORGE r. warm, or Los marinas am, ammoni anon Application filed Jui 11,

This invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in shoes, and has particular application to a shoe adapted especial 1y for wear when participating inoutdoor 5 sports, recreation or games.

In the present instance I have shown my invention as embodied in a shoe designed for wear when playingfootball, but I wish it to be understood that it is not limited in its useful application to thisparticular purpose, as it may be advantageously worn when indulging in other outdoor sports or recreatlons,

such as hockey, :golf, hiking, or walking, hill,

or mountain climbing, and thelike.

As is well known to those familiar with the game of football, particularly the modified Rugby now played between college teams and other organizations, the feet and ankles of the player are subjected to great-and sudden w stresses and strains in running, dodging, plunging, tackling, panting, interfering, and kicking, and hence various attempts have been made to reinforce the shoe as an insur ance against accident or injury to the feet and ankles of the player, but, so far as I am aware, and from my experience in the game, such football shoes as are now on the market possess certain disadvantages. Theyare heavy,

upon a wet, heavy or soggy field, andin addition, do not thoroughly stiffen or brace the ankle and instep against sudden sharp stresses or strains to which the feet and ankles of the player are constantly subjected during the game. Furthermore, the ordinary football shoe is not at all well adapted for the puntingor drop kicking, which forms such an important factor in the modern football game. A skillful kicker is, in one sense, a specialist in the game, and usually the kicking is assigned to or devolves upon one man. An expert kicker gets the kick off by striking the ball with the instep under a powerful leg drive. As he draws back the leg to deliver the kick, he rocks the foot downward at the ankle, and at the same time stretches the instep until it is comparatively flat, and then, 50 in delivering the kick, strikes the ball full on cumbersome, and interfere with-thespeed and agility of the player, particularly- 1'929. serial no. St r-.364.

the extended instep with the muscles of the latter, as well as the ankle under tension.

Withv the ordinary football shoe the lacing extends well down toward the toe and, as the vamp or instep portion of the shoe is made of but avsingle thickness of leather, there is a v pronounced sh'oulder'or space formed by the usual toetip where it is stitched to the lower portion of the vamp. I With the irregular sur faces or projections thus formed by the'laces and the toe tip, and because of the thin flexible nature of the vamp made of but a single thickness of leather, there is always present the liability of making a faulty or inaccurate kick, particularly when the kicker is hurried by; the charging linesmen of the opposing s1 e.

One of the principal obj ects of the present invention therefore is the provision of a football shoe adapted especially for kicking pur poses, said shoe being so constructed at the instep or vamp-portion thereof as to provide a strong, solid, and substantially rigid and relatively fiat kicking surface, at the instep, thereby tending toinsure accurate kicks und'er varying conditions of play.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the vamp and the upper front portion of the shoe with spaced reinforcements, so placed-that while bracing and sustaining 30 the foot, such reinforcements will notinter; fere with the natural bending movement "of the ankle,'therefore will not retard the speed of the player in running orsprinting.

A further object'of the invention is to pro 3.5 vide a shoe of this character which-will embody the desired features of strength, elii-' ciency, simplicity and durability, and which is relatively light, thereby conducing to the speed of the wearer. l 9o With the above recited objects and others of a similar nature in view, my invention consists in the improved construction of shoe set forth in and falling within the scope of the appended claims. j

In the accompanying drawing Fig. l is a'vie'w in side elevationof a partly laced' shoe embodying my, invention; I s

Fig. 2 is a frontview thereof; V.

Fig. 3 is a horizontalsectional view taken 190 through the upper of the shoe on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing the manner of reinforcing such upper.

Referring to the accompanying drawing in detail, the letter A indicates the shoe as an strip 4. Each reinforcing strip preferably abuts at its lower end against the tip 1, as shown at 5, so as to form a smooth even flush surface with the'tip. Each strip extends upward over the instep to apoint approximately at the top of the latter, as shown at 6. The opposing or confronting edgesof these'reinv forcing strips A lie flush or even with the adjacent longitudinal edges of the lace opening of the shoe, while below the lace opening the strips are formed with widened or enlarged portions 7 the inner edges of which are relatively close together, almost abutting, as shown at 8, directly adjacent the toetip 1. These reinforcing strips 4, which are also preferably of heavy leather, are stitched to the shoe along the edge portions by the rows of stitching 9. The reinforcing strips 10 are also stitched to the front of the upper of the shoe adjacent tie edges of the lace opening,

as shown at 11, with the lower edges 12 of the strips 10 substantially abutting against the top edges of the instep reinforcing strips 4:. Thus a smootheven surface is formed along the front of the shoe from approximately the toe tip, to the top of the upper, but inasmuch as the strips 10 are separate pieces from the strips 4, the wearer may bend or flex the foot at the junction 12 of the strips 10 with the strips 4, without interference.

Shorter reinforcing side pieces 13 are stitched, as at 14, to the top of the shoe in substantial abutting relation to the adjacent longitudinal edges of the strip 10, as shown in Fig. 1, but these strips 13, at their lower ends, terminate short of the upper edges of the instep reinforcing strip 4:, so that the flexing or bending movement of the foot will not be restricted. These strips 13 tend to reinforce the ankle; and to further brace the ankle portion and the large or Achilles tendon of the foot, I provide a strong back piece 15, of suitable material, such as leather, which extends from the heel reinforcement 2, to the top of the back of the shoe, where it is turned over and stitched,'as at 16. The blank forming the back piece 15 is substantially triangular in form and when stitched, as at 17, in inverted position to form the back of the upper portion of the shoe, its sideedges 18 will extend from the top of the strips 13 to the central back portion of the heel reinforcement 2, thus strengthening and bracing the ankle, without interfering with the free play of the latter. By turning over the upper edge of this back piece 15, as shown at 16, a flexible rounded binding is formed which will prevent the rubbing or cutting of the skin. p

. In the present instance, for'the purpose of closing and securing the shoe, I employ the usual laces 19 threaded through eyelets 20 arranged in rows extending from the lower portion of the instep up to the top of the shoe, these eyelets passing through the leather body of the upper as well as through the reinforcing strips 4 and 10.

Fromthe foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the construction andpurpose of my improved shoe will be readily apparent. It is to be noted that a flush relatively smooth broad surface extends from the top of the toe over the instep and the top of the shoe, inasmuch as the instep reinforcing strip 4 and the upper reinforcing strips 10 are flush with each other and with the tip of thetoe. Thus, when the ball is struck by the foot, as in kicking, there are no abrupt'shoulders orpart-s to cause a faulty or poor kick, but, on the contrary, an even comparatively smooth regular surface is provided, which not only tends to insure accurate kicking, but, owing to the reinforcements, will act to protect the foot against hurt or injury in kicking.

, While I have herein shown and described a particular embodiment, of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to all the precise details herein set forth by, way of illustration, as modification and variation may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention or exceedin the scope of the appended claims.

- What claim is:

1. A shoe of the-class described, having a pair of strips of reinforcing material attached to and covering the instep portion of the body of the shoe from a point approximately at the toe of the shoe to the top of the instep, a second pair of reinforcing strips flush with the instep strips extending from the top of the latter to the top of the shoe, and a third pair ofreinforcing strips ar ranged in parallelism with said second pair of reinforcing strips, all of said strips being substantially flush with each other.

2. A shoe of the class described, having a plurality of reinforcing pieces attached to and covering the instep, of the shoe, and a plurality of pairs of separate reinforcing strips attached to the upper portion of the shoe above the instep, thelatter strips extending closely'in' collateral relation along the front portion of the upper of the shoe.

3. A shoe of the class described, having instep reinforcing pieces. attached thereto, and separate pairs of reinforcing strips arlOO and substantially flush with ranged in parallelism and attached to'the upper portion of the shoe above the instep such instep reinforcing pieces. v 1

4. A shoe of the class described, comprising a heel piece,- a continuous integral back piece in the form of a wide, substantially triangular piece of leather arranged with its apex downward, the upwardly dis osed base 0 the triangle forming the rear alf of the top edge of the shoe, and the sides of the triangle extending from the sides of the top edge of the shoe convergingly and rearward 1y downward to the top of the heel piece of I the shoe.

5. A shoe of the class described, comprising side pieces, a heel reinforcing piece covering the bottom rear portion of theshoe, the rear edges of the side pieces terminating in downwardly and rearwardlysloping edges, and a wide, substantially triangular back piece completing the rear portion of the upper of the shoe, the base of the triangle being arranged on top and comprising the rear portion of the top edge of the upper,

the. sides of said triangle extending convergingly and rearwardly downward to the top of the aforesaid reinforcing heel piece and being stitched to the sides of the shoe.

6. A shoe of the class described, comprising a reinforcing toe piece, reinforcing pieces flush with the toe piece covering substantially the entire front of the shoe, a reinforcing heel piece and a wide, substantially triangular back piece arranged with its apex downward, the upwardly disposed base of the triangle forming the rear half of the top edge of the shoe, and the sides of the triangle extending rear edges of the GEORGE F. WALSH."

plurality of transverse and a plux from the top edge of the shoe convergingly and rearwardly downward to the top of the reinforcing heel piece.

7. A shoe of the class described, comprising side pieces, a reinforcing toe piece, additional reinforcing pieces flush with the toe piece covering the forward edges of the side pieces, a reinforcing heel piece covering the bottom rear portion of the shoe, the rear edges of the side pieces terminating in downwardly and rearwardly sloping edges, and a wide, substantially triangular back piece completing the rear portion of the'upper of the shoe, the base of the triangle being arranged on top and comprising the rear portion of the top edge of said triangle extending convergingly and rearwardly downward to the top of the aforesaid reinforcing heel piece and being stitched to the rear edges of the sides of the shoe.

8. An athletic shoe of the class described, having a relatively heavy leather reinforcement which encloses the toe portion of the shoe and extends upwardly therefrom in a. relatively wide band to the top of the upper of the upper, the sides 

